Friday, November 20, 2009

The writing was on the wall

I think I’ve seen the writing on the wall for a while now. I think I’ve known for a while that I would become a vegetarian at some point.

Perhaps it could be some of these reasons:

I eat mostly vegetarian meals and have for quite some time.

Besides a few dishes of meat that I did crave, most meat just didn’t taste good anymore.

I think the most compelling reason was this:

Aren't these guys so cute?

There is a slaughterhouse near where I work. Many days as I am exiting the turnpike I see trucks with pigs in them pulling up next to me. Those cute pigs stick their snouts out of the slats in the truck and I have to look those cuties in the "snout" all the while wanting to go open the truck door and let them all out.

Of course pigs running around a road with lots of cars, is not such a good thing either, but you get the idea. There just so cute. I get images of one of my favorite childhood books "Charlotte's Web" stuck in my head. I also want to know why they spray paint blue lines on those piggies. I wonder if it's means their time is up? How sad.

A turning point:

On November 8th, my hubby came to take me to lunch. We went to Chipoltle and then stopped at the bookstore. I picked up the new book by Alicia Silverstone called “The Kind Diet”. I had been wanting to read the book, but knowing it was about Veganism I was not sure.

This book really spoke to me in a way that other books haven’t. Sure I knew in the back of my heart that I was moving in this direction, but Alicia has a really kind way about her that shines through in this book. I think this book really speaks to those who are on the fence or who were looking for someone to explain it in a non judgmental way. She never makes you feel bad that your a meat eater and I love that she encourages flirting with eating more vegetarian/vegan foods. It’s not preachy and I really appreciate that. That was the last day I had meat. It’s now been 11 days since I went meat-free. I haven’t missed out on anything and I’ve had some incredible meals since. The key to feeling satisfied is to eat plenty of plant protein as well as protein from whole grains.

I read almost all of it that night. I told my family at dinner that night, that who knows I might become a vegetarian. I've talked about this before with my husband, so it was nothing new to him. I woke up the next day and just made the decision that I was done with meat. It's been 11 days now with no meat and I feel good with my decision. Not sure if I will become a vegan or not. I think I'd like to because I don't like how the animals get treated to give milk and eggs. I also don't want to overwhelm myself by trying to do everything in one day, but I think it's something I may move towards.

This blog will be about my new journey of being a vegetarian and my movement towards possibly becoming a vegan. It was super scary jumping off that cliff and making the decision to do it, but I've been so excited at how easy and yummy it's been.